Hello Everyone
This is my very first visit to the site. Congratulations on its content.....very impressive.
I am keen to find out more about my Cornish ancestors.
They came up to Ayrshire in the late 19th century to mine coal having previously been tin miners. They were called Pooley and originated from Camborne, Redruth and Crowan. There are also the names Penpraze, Bennett and Jewel in the family tree. Is anyone out there doing trees with these names?
I am very keen to find out I have any living relatives in the areas mentioned. Also, is there any truth in the story that some Cornish people can bend their fingers back? I showed my bendy thumb to a Cornishman and he said it was a trait that is common!
Thanks for any info.
Anne

Hi there,
I've just joined this site and seen your post. My family tree has all the names you mentioned:
My great great grandparents James Pooley and his wife Elizabeth maiden name Penpraze moved to Ayrshire in the 1880s. James's mother was Joanna Bennet and Elizabeth's mother was Caroline Jewel.
I have a copy of James and Elizabeth's marriage certificate showing their marriage at Illogan Parish Church on 1st November 1870. The story passed down through the family is that James went to Scotland to work in the coal mines after the tin mining in Cornwall died out. Elizabeth, who had several children by then and was heavily pregnant, later travelled by boat up the west coast to join him. Their next child, James, was born in Aidrie, Lanarkshire, in 1887. The family then settled in Ayrshire. James died in 1914 in Auchinleck, Ayrshire, and Elizabeth in 1934. Their daughter, Elizabeth was my great grandmother. One of the Elizabeths, I'm not sure which, spoke the Cornish dialect and smoked a clay pipe, according to my mum's recollection. Sadly my mum is no longer around for me to check this.
I'd be interested to hear your connection to these families.